Illinois farmer competing in national contest

Dec 27, 2018

Ryan Reeverts is participating in the Young Farmers and Ranchers Collegiate Farm Bureau Discussion

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A fifth-generation farmer from Byron, Ill. is preparing to discuss agriculture on a national level.

Ryan Reeverts, an ag education student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., will compete in the Young Farmers and Ranchers Collegiate Farm Bureau Discussion meet in March.

Participants must prepare answers to a series of questions.

The topics for the upcoming competition include how to attract people from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) backgrounds to ag, and how the American Farm Bureau can be more inclusive to all production practices.

Reeverts’s strategy for the competition will be to examine the issues from a state level and expand outward.

“One thing I try to focus on is looking at what has worked for other states,” he told The Southern Illinoisan. “I then work to understand how that might fit for Illinois, or on a national scale.”

Formal notes aren’t allowed during the competition, so contestants will spend time studying and absorbing as much information in advance as possible.

“Preparation for this event takes a lot of individual research and general knowledge about the industry,” he said.

Win or lose, Reeverts is confident the experience will help prepare him for his future, which he hopes will include teaching.

“Whether I am a high school agriculture instructor or working in the industry, a lot of what we do is educate others,” he told The Southern Illinoisan. “Being knowledgeable of these different topics prepares me to educate people, regardless of where I am in agriculture.”

Farms.com has reached out to Reeverts for more comment on his preparation for the competition.

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